Elizabeth Schuyler

Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler (9 August 1757-9 November 1854) was the wife of Alexander Hamilton and the founder of the first privately-owned orphanage in New York City.

Biography
Elizabeth Schuyler was born on 9 August 1757, the daughter of Philip Schuyler and Catharine Van Rensselaer, both of whom were wealthy Dutch-Americans from an esteemed family. Schuyler learned to read and sew from her mother while her father fought in the French and Indian War, and in the winter of 1780 she met Alexander Hamilton while attending a winter ball in Morristown, New Jersey. Her sister Angelica Schuyler introduced Hamilton to her, and she instantly fell in love with him; the two wed soon after, but in January 1781 Hamilton had to return to the army during the American Revolutionary War. After the war, Schuyler and her children moved to England while Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, and she taught her children how to speak French. She was heartbroken when her husband cheated on her with Maria Reynolds and told the country of the affair, and she burnt all of his correspondence to remove herself from the picture. However, she reunited with him after their son Philip Hamilton died defending his father's honor in a duel, and they moved to Uptown Manhattan. Unfortunately, in 1804 her husband also died in a duel, just three years after Philip. Elizabeth would live fifty more years, founding the first privately-owned orphanage in New York City and raising money to build the Washington Monument. She died at the age of 97 in 1854.